Cuomo puts longtime loyalist in charge of MTA

Former Port Authority executive director to take chairman's seat

Patrick Foye, executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey listens during a news conference in New York, U.S., on Thursday, October 24, 2013. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Patrick Foye

Meet your new subway conductor.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday afternoon that he would promote Patrick Foye from president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to chairman. If confirmed by the state Senate, Foye will replace interim Chairman Fernando Ferrer, who himself took over the train and bus operator from Joseph Lhota in November.

Foye, an attorney, entered state government when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed him head of the Empire State Development Corp.—a role he resigned shortly after scandal forced his patron from office. He returned when Cuomo took office in 2011, first as deputy secretary for economic development then as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In the latter role, Foye famously terminated the spurious "traffic study" that appointees of then-Garden State Gov. Chris Christie engineered on the George Washington Bridge in 2013, part of a political revenge conspiracy now known as "Bridgegate."

Some viewed Foye's appointment as MTA president as a step down for one who had previously led a major authority. Now, however, he will hold the top position—and will have to implement Cuomo's $44 billion plan to fully modernize the atrophied transit systems serving the New York City and its suburbs.

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